Microbot Push

TL;DR: Microbot Push is a wireless robotic finger that makes ordinary buttons smart.

Look around. Notice how many buttons surround you? You press them regularly: to turn something on or off, to play or pause, to send or receive, to answer or dismiss. Buttons and switches are the simplest forms of user interfaces. So simple that about every device will have one. We created Microbot Push to connect these buttons and switches to the Internet. We all know, once you connect something to the Internet — magic happens.

Microbot Push is a wireless robotic finger that can push most ordinary buttons just like a human finger does. The idea is simple: Microbot Push attaches on buttons that operate particular features on a device. Since then, you can control these functions remotely using your smartphone or computer.

Wirelessely

Push any button wirelessly from anywhere at anytime.

Or automate when they get pushed using our companion hub - Prota Box.

Manually

Microbot also has a capacitive touch button, so you can always manually push it if it is within reach.

Simply add Microbot on a legacy device with an adhesive foam tape that comes included with every unit.

And don't worry if you want to reuse it later. You easily remove Push without damaging walls or appliances. Then attach it again on a different device.

Install easily on tumbler light switch.

Install easily on coffee maker's rocker switch.

Microbot Push, just like a human finger, can push various buttons in several spots & ways.

We made a device for you to experiment with numerous different buttons, switches, & devices!

Prota Specifications

Control away from home

When Push connects to its companion hub, Prota Box, you will get the freedom to control multiple Microbots from anywhere. All you will need is an Internet-connected device with a web browser.

Microbots connect to Prota Box via Bluetooth, while Prota Box itself connects to your home network over WiFi.

Create powerful home automation stories

Push to turns on a coffee maker just before you wake up or switches on the lights on sunset. These are just a few of many home automation stories when Push connects to Prota.

class="embedly-embed" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FSeP_wt8ct54%3Ffeature%3Doembed&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSeP_wt8ct54&image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FSeP_wt8ct54%2Fhqdefault.jpg&key=64da7ba9305b45b68029ce9f0c7e4d75&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube" width="620" height="348" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 24px;">

Integrate with existing smart devices

Thanks to Prota you can merge features from your existing smart devices into a single automation story together with Push.

Let's look at what's possible:

Use Prota apps

Hue, WeMo, Pebble, Netamo are just a handful of free apps available for Push on Prota Box. Plus we continuously expand our App Library.

Connect to IFTTT

If you’re an IFTTT user, then you can combine Push with any IFTTT end point via the Maker channel.

 

From day 1 automate like a pro!

Not sure where to start your automation story? Just start writing what your devices should do for you and the Prota web app will suggest you available opinions automatically.

Prota Box is not an ordinary smart hub

Prota Box is a small personal server computer, a smart hub, that accompanies Microbot Push. Prota Box comes in handy if you have multiple Microbots, want to automate how do you use them together with other smart devices, and access your automation stories remotely.

Prota TV cast app: use TV as a wireless display for all your mobile devices

With this additional Prota Box application you can wirelessly mirror the entire screen of your tablet or smartphone directly to your TV. You can watch Netflix, Hulu and Youtube without the trouble of using wires and adapters.

The app supports both AirPlay mirroring for iOS devices and Miracast for Android & Windows 10 users.

As this piece of software is enabled by one of our partners, please add $10 to your pledge, if you find it useful!

To learn more about Prota Box see FAQs at the bottom of the page.

Most of our devices, especially  appliances, lack the Internet connectivity or remote control interface. Simply adding Microbot Push opens remarkable home automation possibilities to everything you bought before. 

Bellow are just a handful of many feasible examples of how you can upgrade your appliances using Microbots. These examples also include our estimates how much  will save by upgrading & re-using your equipment instead of buying  new items to join the Internet of Things bandwagon, not to mention the sustainability aspect.

Upgrade your light switches

Auto-prepare coffee before you wake up

Turn your kettle into a smart kettle

Control your air conditioner remotely from anywhere

Turn heat up your room automatically as temperature drops

Beyond being a fun and versatile home automation gadget for everyone, Microbot Push has a potential to do good for millions of people with special needs.

Did you know how many disabled people are there in the world? Before starting the campaign, we didn’t know the exact number either. The answer, according to the UN, is 1 billion. It may be shocking to learn that around 15% of the world’s population experience some form of disability. But more unexpectedly to us was to discover that as many as 1/4th of people with disabilities reported that they often don’t have a choice and control over their daily lives.

Here's how Microbot Push can help:

• Easy plug & play installation enables unparalleled remote control on every household appliance.
  
• Microbots can be placed on devices temporarily and removed when patient's condition improves.
  
• Or can be kept there permanently.
  
• Multi-user & multi-device support allows equipment to be controlled by both the patient and caregivers independently.

We are sincerely moved by all the messages and comments where people applaud our project saying that our product will improve their lives dramatically.

We have just partnered with the National Rehabilitation Center in Korea so that together we can explore and bring even more awesome home automation and remote control experiences especially to people with special needs.

When we imagined Microbot Push, we saw a general purpose tool that improves lives of thousands of people as it comes in handy in many common home improvement scenarios.

Moreover, as we went along with the project, we got surprised by how many small niches Push can cover. Many of these niches would be otherwise overlooked by big IoT companies.

As our fan suggests, Push could start an external car heater in Sweden! Deploy Microbots to help your loved one to recover from an unfortunate skiing trip.

We really need your support to cover tooling and initial manufacturing costs.With what’s left we will start making a brand new Microbot! Let’s make smarter smart homes that work as you want them to work!

At this point, we have already partnered with INTOPS, which is an experienced and high-quality hardware manufacturer in South Korea. In fact, those are the same guys who help one of the biggest electronics makers in South Korea to bring their products into the hands of millions of customers.

Our factory in Korea. Help us to make your Microbots here!

You’ll get your hands on Microbot Push & Prota Box ahead of anyone else.

You’ll explore what it means to live in the connected future by altering your items even before other startups, and established firms will make their versions commercially available.

You’ll be able to join an exclusive Slack channel where we will discuss how one can create mesmerizing smart home experiences.

Also, as we crossed $50,000 in pledges, Indiegogo supporters will be able to choose from two additional colors: candy red and fancy gold. Beautiful red and gold Microbots will be exclusively reserved to backers and won't show up in retail.

Here's a glimpse inside the box if you order Push without Prota Box:

Here's a glimpse inside the box if you order Push in combination with Prota Box:

We take privacy seriously. It is true that despite connected devices are pitched as good for consumers, a few companies exploit them for their benefit by tracking and infinitely accumulating your usage patterns.

It’s a rhetorical question, but do you want more targeted advertising based on your private data from a product that you already paid? For us it doesn’t feel like a fair tradeoff; that’s why we will never track where you attached your Microbots or how frequently do you use them.

Innovations

From the outside, Microbot Push is aesthetically very simple, yet we have spent long hours engineering its internals. To efficiently perform the pushing action to real life use cases, we had to attain enough torque in such a small form factor. To do so we custom built our high-performance micro motor — still there are no existing market alternatives with just enough RPM.

Also, we had to create unique seven gear precision mechanism that would efficiently translate all this torque from the motor into a linear force applied to the buttons. We also used PC and ABS type materials to achieve the best wireless connectivity and to reduce Microbot’s weight.

Ultimately, we chose high capacity rechargeable batteries. From the point of usability, it is critical for Microbot Push to operate long enough on a single charge. We strive for six months of usage time (approx. 1-minute per day).

Design

Microbot Push is designed to be as small as possible to fit practically on many legacy devices and walls. Its ascetic form is intentional. Push seamlessly blends with many interiors and at the same time it doesn't distract people from their typical usage patterns.

We created an ambient control experience where household gadgets and apps work in a stealth mode responding naturally to users' lives. That is also why Push has a capacitive button on its top: for convenience and common sense, users can always push manually if the button is within their hand's reach.

Sustainability

Connecting stuff to the Internet is valuable. It helps to save time, energy and it unlocks new features. Also it feels futuristic, most of us especially from the want to live in the future, right? But let’s look at average lifespans for home appliances.

Ordinary home appliances can last for years. Wise up existing items with Push instead of buying new ones.

Expected lifespan of home appliances

The average refrigerator will last for 13-19 years depending on its type. Washers and dryers should work at least 10+ years while dishwashers tend to wear faster and hold up for about nine years. The list goes on. Despite the fact that product life cycles are getting shorter, it is clearly not sustainable to change equipment frequently (most of the times perfectly well-working equipment). Don’t get us wrong. We believe in the Internet of things, and we think that most dumb items today will have a silicon chip in the future. But in the interim period the stage belongs to smart add-ons — such as Microbot Push.

Not only you can wise up and extend the lifetime of existing devices, but you can also experiment and find out new unique ways of using it. With Prota automation engine, the possibilities to experiment are nearly endless.

Future Microbots

Push is just the beginning of the Microbot series. We already have clear plans for the next five Microbots in addition to Push: Microbot Twist, a wireless robotic hand than can twist knobs; IR bridge, an infrared control station; Microbot Sense, a multi-sensor station; Microbot View, a wireless camera; and Microbot Scan, a wireless fingerprint reader.

Our team began to develop an operating system for home entertainment and automation all the way back in 2009. The term Internet of Things did not even exist back then! With the support of Seoul City government, we had a cozy office and minimal funds to live in the city. We knew we needed more reserves to make what we imagined possible, so we immediately started looking for qualified investors. However, we failed. Startup ecosystem in Korea back then was almost non-existent. In order to adapt we changed the course of the company for a few years.

Naran started consulting big-name companies in Korea related to what we did, personal cloud computing and Internet of Things. Korea Telecom, KT R&D Center and Korea Electric Power Corporation were our major customers. We developed and deployed many of their services, and one of them had about 10M registered users and is still running for well over three years.

After we stabilized the business, the whole team decided to stop accepting new contracts in 2012 and did not renew any of our existing ones. One year later we became completely free from big conglomerates, and the team could focus on solely on Prota. Finally doing what all of us believed lead us to meet great partners who later also turned out to be great investors. With their guidance, we were able to stay focused on our vision and arrived here where we ask you to validate our idea and help to bring Microbots to mass production!

We've been through a lot together as a team. All these experiences and technologies we developed are ending up with Prota and Microbots!

Disclaimer: ‘Delivery of perks is subject to best efforts and not guaranteed.’

We are making a genuinely unique product from the ground up. Therefore, we are aware that there might be some production delays outside of our control. To dodge the risk as much as possible, we already identified an experienced producer in South Korea way prior to this campaign. This factory understands well what it takes to go from an ambitious concept to getting a real product into the hands of millions of happy customers. In fact, they are the same guys that one of the biggest electronics company relies on to produce their products.

The biggest challenge for us left is to be able to finish the software part on time. We comprise of a team of experienced software engineers that previously worked for Microsoft and Google. We believe that we have all things necessary to complete this project timely, however in an unlikely event that threatens the deadline we promise fast and transparent communication with our backers.

1. PROTA BOX
2. PURCHASING & SETUP (quantity, options, setup, etc)
3. BUYING & SHIPPING (shipping costs, international shipping, timeline)
4. TECHNICAL (multiple devices, power & voltage)
5. PRIVACY & SECURITY
6. COMPATIBILITY (will it work with..)
7. USABILITY (can it be used like this..)
8. OTHER

1. PROTA BOX
   • What is Prota Box?
     Prota Box is a hub for Microbots. It is fundamentally a mini personal server computer where apps are being executed. Prota Box can manage and control multiple microbots at the same time, and users can access Prota Box anywhere, anytime through its web-based interface.
   • How does Microbot Push connect to Prota Box?
     Prota Box has both WiFi & Bluetooth. It uses Bluetooth LE to connect to multiple Microbots at once, and it uses WiFi to connect to your home WiFi network and your existing smart devices.
   • How do I operate my Prota Box?
     Prota Box provides its native user interface via web. There's also a mobile app available for iOS and Android.
   • Why do I need Prota Box to automate my Microbots? Can I automate Push just with using my smartphone?
     Imagine this. If you used your smartphone to run all the automation rules, those rules would stop functioning as soon as you would step out of your house. There must be a hub that always stays at your home or office and is connected both to the Internet and your smart devices at the same time.
     
     If Microbots were controlled via some cloud services, it would be insecure and vulnerable as well as more power-hungry (Wi-Fi consumes a lot more power than Bluetooth Low Energy).
   • How does Prota integrate my existing smart devices?
     We use open APIs to build Prota apps that link the functionality from your current smart gadgets to Prota. From there you can combine all these different devices, their features into powerful automation stories.
   • How does Prota get contextual information from web services (time of the day, weather conditions, etc.)?
     We also use open APIs to link Prota popular web services, so you can use them in your automation stories. Such as Gmail, weather service, Volumio, etc.).
   • Can I get new apps for Prota?
     Yes. We are continually publishing news apps on our Prota app repository.
   • How can I mirror my device's screen to an HDTV using Prota?
     Screen mirroring can be roughly explained as HDMI over WiFi. Essentially this Prota app replaces cables that you would normally need to connect your smartphone, tablet or computer to your television set.
     
     To use the mirroring feature you have to connect Prota to your TV using an HDMI cable, but once you did that, you can simply add your TV as a wireless display from your smartphone's, tablet's or computer's settings menu.
     
     iOS, Windows 10 and Android devices use different protocols to connect to wireless displays. However, Prota Box supports both protocols: AirPlay for Apple & Miracast for Android/ Windows 10. This way you can enjoy having a wireless screen for all your devices!
   • Can I develop on Prota?
     Prota SDK early next year. If you want to participate in the program, please let us know here!
2. PURCHASING & SETUP
   • How many Microbot Push devices do I need at my home?
     For 1/2/3 bedroom apartments, we would recommend purchasing 1 Prota with 3 or 11 Microbots. This way you’ll be able to automate at least one light switch and one other device. Also, you’ll be able to experiment and find new ways by placing microbots on new equipment. Think of this as a beginners smart home Lego kit.
     
     For mansion/ estate/ large office, we recommend buying several Prota Boxes.
   • What is the maximum number of Microbots that I can connect at once?
     In theory hundreds, however, we tested 1 Prota with 20 Microbots at once, and it worked perfectly well.
   • Can I buy one for my office or my second home and still control all from the same smartphone (or computer)?
     Yes and Yes! You can access Prota using a web browser from any Internet-connected device that has a web browser (smartphones, computers, tablets).
   • What colors can I choose?
     For now Microbot Push comes in two colors: white and grey.
   • Will I need help installing Push? What about Prota.
     We hope you won’t need any help. Push and Prota Box are designed to be used straight out of the box.
3. BUYING & SHIPPING
   • What are the shipping costs?
     Shipping costs $30. Some extra fees may occur due to customs procedures that depend on your country.
   • What is the estimated delivery date?
     We will start shipping Microbots and Prota Box in March 2016. We already have our manufacturing partner lined up and prepared to scale production to meet any demand for Microbot Push and Prota Box.
4. SOME MORE TECHNICAL QUESTIONS
   • Can I control Microbots and Prota OS from multiple smartphones?
     Yes. Because Prota OS, and, therefore, the Push app within Prota OS, can be accessed via a web browser, multiple people in a household or an office simultaneously can be primary users on their devices.
   • How does Prota OS know when I leave or enter my home?
     If you have a smartphone with GPS capability once you enter or exit a particular area, your phone can notify Prota OS. You can also make use of IFTTT.
   • Can I still push my buttons manually or do I always have to use Push?
     Yes. Every Microbot Push has a capacitive button on its top that triggers the motor to activate manually when someone touches it.
   • When I push manually, does Prota advertise that event?
     Yes. Since it is important for your automation Stories to always know the exact status of a button (on or off).
   • How is Microbot Push powered? What happens if the power goes out?
     Microbot Push has a rechargeable battery, however if the power in your house or office out, Prota Box won’t be able to perform home automation tasks until the power is back.
   • What happens if the Internet goes down?
     If the Internet goes down, you won’t be able to access Prota Box outside of your home network. Home automation tasks that don’t require 3rd party information from the Internet will be working (e.g. pushing buttons on particular time would still work, but tasks based on weather conditions would not).
   • What voltage does Prota Box support?
     Prota Box comes with a standard AC power adapter plugs into 100V ~ 200V 50/60Hz power outlet.
   • Is there an SDK or API for developers?
     We are working on SDK and very soon 3rd party developers will be able to create new awesome apps for Prota OS.
     
     Prota already has the Webhook app that can be used to connect to open web APIs.
5. PRIVACY & SECURITY
   • How secure is Prota?
     Your data is kept locally. It means your personal information does not spill over to the cloud and is never accessible to third party companies.
     
     Also, Prota can only be accessed from a device that at least once accessed Prota from inside of your home network.
   • Is it connect to the cloud?
     No. Prota is a not a cloud-based operating system.
   • Will my private data will be available to anyone (including your company)?
     No. We are not accumulating your usage patterns or how many and what devices connect to Prota.
6. COMPATIBILITY
   • Will Microbot Push/ Prota OS work with my iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows, Mac?
     Yes. Prota OS is accessible via a web app. A native app for accessing Prota will be available for iOS and Android.
   • Will it work with my other smart devices (August, Philps Hue, etc.)?
     It depends. If your smart device has an open API, then you can use the Webhook app to use it with Prota OS. Alternatively, if your smart device has its IFTTT channel, you can connect it to Prota with maker.ifttt.com. Follow the instructions here 
     
     Philips Hue has its Prota OS app and does not need any tinkering to be connected. We will keep adding more products and services that we like as we go.
7. USABILITY
   • Can I place Microbot Push on walls or ceiling?
     Yes. It is very easy to attach Push on flat surfaces like walls and ceiling using an included double sided foam tape.  Watch here.
   • Can I use Microbot Push as a macro button since it has a capacitive touch sensor on its top?
     Yes, when you pair Microbot Push with Prota Box, you can determine what will happen once you touch the sensor in addition to pressing the button beneath the Microbot (e.g. “when Push sensor is touched, play music”).
8. OTHER
   • OK, so exactly on what kind of buttons can I attach Microbot Push?
     On buttons that have a travel distance of 6 mm or less (most buttons). If it happens to be more, it is always possible to add additional padding on the button, though it is probably less aesthetically pleasing, it will do the job.
   • I’m still unsure if I can use Push in my case. What can I do?
     Send us an email or tweet us  here with a picture. We’ll answer shortly!